As You Like It

Multi-Week Class, Full Day

Collaborating with the Hamlet performance class, stagecraft students participate in the design and technical theatre process from imagination to implementation. Facilitated by professional technical theatre artists, participants will have behind the scene access and the opportunity to interact with professional designers and technicians. Expanded this summer to be a two-week class with a progressive curriculum, stagecraft students are active partners in the production of As You Like It.

Week One- Design Focus

During week one students will learn the elements of design, analyze a script from a designer’s perspective, and present a design proposal to directors.

Week Two- Construction Focus

After collaborating with productions directors on the design concept, stagecraft participants will construct technical elements for use in the performances.

Week Three- Production Focus

For the final week of the class at the Tempe Center for the Arts, participants will assume specialized tech roles (lighting operator, stage manager, etc.) and incorporate their designed elements into the final performance.

Space is limited to seven participants in this class, and due to the unique challenges of each production, student responsibilities may vary.

About the Play:

As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, notably the melancholy traveller Jaques who speaks many of Shakespeare's most famous speeches (such as "All the world's a stage", "too much of a good thing" and "A fool! A fool! I met a fool in the forest"). Jaques provides a sharp contrast to the other characters in the play, always observing and disputing the hardships of life in the country.

Note about Extended Care:

All extended care takes place at Childsplay's Campus for Imagination and Wonder in Tempe. During the final week of this class, when rehearsals occur at the Tempe Center for the Arts, young people enrolled in extended care will be transported between the theater and campus by Childsplay staff in company vehicles. Caregivers must sign a vehicle release for students enrolled in an onstage class and extended care.